Examples Of Taking A Stand In The Nfl

Taking a Stand in the NFL
People, as well as the NFL, believe in different objectives for culture and the roles they play in society. How a sport is played is one-way culture influences the game. Whereas, how society acts during the National Anthem is another. Whether one stands, sits, or kneels during the National Anthem is their own right- as exemplified with Collin Kaepernick who has knelt for the National Anthem these last couple of years. This results in NFL teams straying away from picking him up out of free agency during the off season. Though a team may be in need of a quarter back, coaches/the NFL are not putting up with this disrespect of players not honoring troops during this nation’s song. Therefore, because of this recent event/controversial
The culture around the NFL started out very mellow regarding kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem. In which only a hand full of players partook in the protest. This act that once created unity around the United States, has now instead caused people to look at it as an act of rebellion against this nation’s flag and troops. Collin Kaepernick never had the intentions to rebel against the flag or those fighting behind it, rather, to stand up for what he believed in- Bringing the United States one nation and showing unity rather based on your race. This protest has now gone farther than anticipated and became a much deeper issue causing NFL owners to not sign him to a contract. Donald Trump, this nation’s president, got involved on this topic as well, by saying, “if an NFL owner saw one of his players kneeling in protest during the national anthem he should make that son of a bitch leave the field. The NFL responded Sunday by showing solidarity. That solidarity came under the branding of unity” (Trump
Rather than bringing attention to the main issue of kneeling for the anthem, his words caused hatred toward him. Due to these words, even more people knelt for the national anthem, not to rebel against unity, but against Trump himself. The Pittsburgh Steelers rebelled by staying in the locker room during the entire national anthem. Mike Tomlin was ready to support his players no matter what by stating, “I'm going to be supportive of that, as Americans you have that right. But whatever we do we're going to do 100 percent, we're going to do together” (Tomlin 2). This statement reveals that some coaches have the player’s backs through thick and thin. This action has changed the culture through the NFL on the thoughts of kneeling during the national anthem. The digital media and advertisement made for these protests have caused loss of viewership of the games. Sports Illustrated and The New York times/the daily paper are a couple industries who have started making a key point about kneeling in the NFL instead of sport itself. The culture now makes more of an emphasis the politics behind this protest rather than about football in the NFL. This issue has lead football to fall to number two as America’s top sport overall after basketball, as well as, more basketball players are staring in commercials than football players now